Wanderings by the Seine

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proprietor, 1834 - Engraving - 256 pages

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Page 58 - Rome ! my country ! city of the soul ! The orphans of the heart must turn to thee, Lone mother of dead empires ! and control In their shut breasts their petty misery. What are our woes and sufferance ? Come and see The cypress, hear the owl, and plod your way O'er steps of broken thrones and temples, Ye ! Whose agonies are evils of a day — A world is at our feet as fragile as our clay. The Niobe of nations ! there she stands, Childless and crownless, in her voiceless woe ; An empty urn within her...
Page 102 - Tell me not, Sweet, I am unkind That from the nunnery Of thy chaste breast and quiet mind, To war and arms I fly. True, a new mistress now I chase, The first foe in the field; And with a stronger faith embrace A sword, a horse, a shield. Yet this inconstancy is such As you too shall adore; I could not love thee, dear, so much, Loved I not honour more.
Page 177 - Bushy Heath forms the plateau of a mountain, which is the highest point of terra firma in Middlesex ; and, although so far inland, serves as a landmark for vessels at sea. The access to it, from the London side, is by a road far steeper and more difficult than the one by which we once climbed over the Simplon into Italy.
Page 179 - Bushy, occasioned among the inhabitants. The people seemed petrified on seeing a carriage without horses. In the busy and populous town of Watford the sensation was similar — the men gazed in speechless wonder ; the women clapped their hands. We turned round at the end of the street in magnificent style, and ascended Clay Hill at the same rate as the stage coaches drawn by five horses, and at length regained our starting place.
Page 137 - Meeting of Henry VIII. and Francis I. on the Field of the Cloth of Gold (near Guines, France).
Page 186 - ... Roumois, one of the old subdivisions of Upper Normandy, extending to Elbeuf inclusive. Till the time of Henri Quatre it consisted only of a few fishermen's huts ; but this prince observing, and perhaps even exaggerating, the importance of the position — regarding it as a key of Normandy — fortified the port, constructed additional buildings, and endowed it with such privileges as he thought were likely to attract a population. The fortress, under the command of Roger de Bellegarde, the friend...
Page 178 - ... steeper and more difficult than the one by which we once climbed over the Simplon into Italy. While meditating on a phenomenon which left our philosophy at fault, we were accosted by Colonel Macerone, in whom we were glad to recognise an old acquaintance : and, in reply to our questions, he informed us, that although the roads were in a peculiarly bad state, the journey had been performed with perfect ease — adding, that it was his intention to proceed to Watford. Now if the road from Edgware...
Page 184 - There is, besides, a certain peculiarity of taste in the fishing districts, which make the people poorer than they need be. On the banks of the Seine, for instance, the fishermen are compelled to eat the John Dorys themselves, or else to throw them away ; for this fish, so excellent and so wholesome, is not admitted to the tables of the genteel, and therefore fetches only a few centimes in the market. In England we understand good eating better, at least in this respect, and very properly place the...
Page 178 - Heath to Watford was much worse. We told our friend that he might go by steam to Watford, but that we were quite certain that he would not return by the same means of locomotion. Nevertheless, at his pressing instance, we consented to hazard our own person in the adventure. We set off, amidst the cheers of the villagers. The motion was so steady that we could have read with ease, and the noise was no worse than that produced by a common vehicle. On arriving at the summit of Clay Hill, the local and...
Page 4 - HAVRE is comparatively an infant city, dating only from the beginning of the sixteenth century, when its foundation was laid by Francis I. ; although the honour of the idea at least, if nothing more, is due to his predecessor, Louis XII. It is not wonderful that the French kings should have formed a strong predilection for a port situated at the mouth of the Seine — the river of Paris — the river of France; but even their efforts would have been insufficient to have compelled towards its newly-born...

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